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The environment as the driving force behind local aesthetic

#1
If we look at earth, the environments in which different cultures reside have a huge bearing on how these cultures actually end up.

What if LT's environment directly influenced the AI inhabiting it?

A rise in piracy in the systems? Stations equip protective hull plating to the point where they end up looking like bulwarks.

A peaceful system reliant on exotic goods trade? Stations will look more and more nimble and futuristic, with sleek curves that aim to lure in the distinguished buyers.

A red giant looms over the system? Thermal plating on all stations.

Simple statistical parameters that are collected on whole systems could influence the aesthetic makeup of what's inside of them. The system exists outside of the economy, and can be more interpreted as the 'building code; that is mandated in relation to the environment. The changes are automatically applied to new stations to fit in with the environment, for much more immersion.

Rich system? Sleek aesthetic.
Poor system? Stitched together stations (Junker-like).
War torn systems? Fortress builds.
Environmental hazards? Shielding.

This could also be applied to factions as a whole to some degree, especially in regards to their monetary or military prowess.

Would this be feasible? :)
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Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#2
I think about this as well, it would really be nice to see that kind of 'coherence' within systems that ties them together.

To some degree, it will happen automatically. Rich system -> factions making lots of profit, able to build larger, better-equipped stations. Pirate-laden system -> lots of money being spent on defense budget, highly-armed outposts and more patrol details, etc. Outskirt / sparsely-populated system -> small, cheaper outposts rather than large stations. As far as the actual aesthetics, though, this is more difficult and probably unlikely to happen. As far as ship / station aesthetics are concerned, they are governed entirely by the faction that researches and builds them (different factions have different aesthetic parameters that are passed to the generating algorithms for ship and station designs). But again, you will still see things like size / level of armament / level of defensive structures being influenced by the environment.

So you'll likely see roughly 'half' of your idea in LT, realistically :)
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ~ Henry Ford
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Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#4
Cornflakes_91 wrote:for one of the smaller parts of his idea, could armor plating be represented visually as well?
(for the "heavily armored" or "thermal armor" etc)

shouldnt be that much of a difference to any turret or other external equipment.
It's something I'll consider for sure. Not a trivial change to the current system, as "structure" hardpoints (where one would typically attach armor plating) are not considered to have visual components to them. But a great deal of that (and everything) is being reworked for maximal simplicity and beauty. The difficulty (and difference with turret or other small attachment) would lie in the fact that the hardpoint would need to know much more about the geometry of the attachee object. An armor plate should fit the curvature, etc. of the geometry to which it is attached, whereas a turret is basically attached at a point and only needs to know the normal (outer-facing direction) of the geometry. I'd say unlikely to happen, but surely can be considered.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ~ Henry Ford
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Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#6
On a connected idea, could ships/stations which are using similar/identical technologies (in their ship hull, not equipment) share optical features?

For example a zorblaxian scanner corvette may has some prongs at the front [technobabble sensor prongs].
A frigate derived from the corvette with a similar focus on scanning would have similar prongs.

Or a generic cruiser with jumpdrive capability would have some ring structure around it, and a specialised jump tug would have a much more pronounced ring structure, cause it has a larger jumpdrive.

Would give a big bonus to visual identification and memorability for the player "this ship is a scanner frigate of zorblaxian design" without the player knowing that ship type.
Just from correlating the visual characteristics.
Ship has prongs -> zorblaxian scanner ships have prongs -> z. Scanner ship
Last edited by Cornflakes_91 on Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
Post

Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#7
Cornflakes_91 wrote:Would give a big bonus to visual identification and memorability for the player "this ship is a scanner frigate of zorblaxian design" without the player knowing that ship type.
Just from correlating the visual characteristics.
Ship has prongs -> zorblaxian scanner ships have probgs -> z. Scanner ship
+1

This kind of visual coherence doesn't actually happen in reality, where physical utility > high-level socio-cultural attitudes.

But it's got so much value in a game, both functionally and for lore, that it's really worth consideration.

By modders, I mean. ;)
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Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#8
Flatfingers wrote: This kind of visual coherence doesn't actually happen in reality, where physical utility > high-level socio-cultural attitudes.
I was more thinking in terms of "they chose another path in enineering" and thats why it looks different.
Lore wise at least :P

Flatfingers wrote: By modders, I mean. ;)
Why does everyone assume that josh stops improving stuff after V1.0? :P
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Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#10
Cornflakes_91 wrote:
Flatfingers wrote:By modders, I mean. ;)
Why does everyone assume that josh stops improving stuff after V1.0? :P
Well, speaking only for myself, I'm not assuming that at all.

I'm not saying he won't. Nor am I saying he will, or should.

I'm saying that anything not absolutely and obviously required to complete v1.0 of LT-as-Freelancer-2.0 as soon as possible should be left to modders, or to Josh, after LT v1.0 is released.

I'm not suggesting we can't or shouldn't talk about ideas like this one. More suggestions, please! I do feel pretty strongly, though, that I don't want to sound like I'm endorsing adding ANYTHING to Josh's v1.0 task list.

Frankly, my eye already twitches madly whenever he mentions tweaking existing features, much less adding new functionality of any kind. I just don't say anything about that because I don't want to sound ungrateful that he's talking with us again. ;)
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Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#11
Flatfingers wrote:Frankly, my eye already twitches madly whenever he mentions tweaking existing features, much less adding new functionality of any kind. I just don't say anything about that because I don't want to sound ungrateful that he's talking with us again.
I just reach for the pointy stick, Flat. :)

I can tell this version of the Josh model is superior to previous versions so I'm not concerned about him disappearing again but he has to know when the Community feel something is not right. He can choose to ignore the pointy stick if he feels so inclined but I get the impression that this current Josh does carefully consider what is said here. That is not the impression I was getting from the less advanced previous Josh model(s) of years gone by. :angel:
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Re: The environment as the driving force behind local aesthe

#12
Flatfingers wrote:
Cornflakes_91 wrote:
Flatfingers wrote:By modders, I mean. ;)
Why does everyone assume that josh stops improving stuff after V1.0? :P
Well, speaking only for myself, I'm not assuming that at all.

I'm not saying he won't. Nor am I saying he will, or should.

I'm saying that anything not absolutely and obviously required to complete v1.0 of LT-as-Freelancer-2.0 as soon as possible should be left to modders, or to Josh, after LT v1.0 is released.

I'm not suggesting we can't or shouldn't talk about ideas like this one. More suggestions, please! I do feel pretty strongly, though, that I don't want to sound like I'm endorsing adding ANYTHING to Josh's v1.0 task list.

Frankly, my eye already twitches madly whenever he mentions tweaking existing features, much less adding new functionality of any kind. I just don't say anything about that because I don't want to sound ungrateful that he's talking with us again. ;)
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